12th Aug 2020
By Greig McGillWith apologies to Mark Oliver Everett for the stolen title, this time I thought I’d be a little less technical and offer up a selection of things I wish I’d known or done differently wh…
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10th May 2020
By Greig McGillHops are, for all intents and purposes, the mascot of the craft beer revolution. While there are plenty of beer aficionados who are not hop-heads, the loudest, proudest, and certainly m…
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10th Feb 2020
By Greig McGillHappy 2020 everyone! I hope you’re all brewing up a storm and planning delicious things for this year. It’s certainly been a crazy time in the brewery for me, but the team at Brewshop h…
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5th Nov 2019
We asked Mike Douglass, a regular Brewshop customer, about his brewing and how different it is while living on Stewart Island.What type of brewing set up do you have, how often do you brew, and what s…
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4th Sep 2019
By Greig McGillA long time ago, Stu McKinlay (of Yeastie Boys and SOBA founding member fame) and I had a good natured back-and-forth thing going on Twitter. #FreshIsBest (me) versus #FreshIsNotBest (S…
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9th May 2019
By Greig McGillFollowing on from the last post, sparging - rinsing of residual sugars from the mash bed using hot water - can be accomplished by various methods. The goal is the same. The brewer wants…
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7th Feb 2019
By Greig McGillSurely, the mash is everyone’s favourite part of the brew day? I love the smell of hot grains, slowly unlocking their sweet potential as they steep in hot water. And that’s what the mas…
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16th Oct 2018
The Perils of Opening a BreweryBy Greig McGill“Living the dream, mate!”That’s got to be the most common phrase said to me since I took the plunge, left my job in IT, and shifted Brewaucracy from an ex…
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3rd Jul 2018
Keg vs BottleBy Greig McGillIf there’s one part of brewing that most home brewers seem to dislike, it’s bottling. All those individual bottles to clean and sanitise. Fretting over whether to bulk prim…
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4th Apr 2018
pH – pHantastic or pHooey? By Greig McGill You’ve all probably heard about pH. You probably know what it measures, in practical terms anyway. The exact nature of pH is about as chemistry nerdy as…
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20th Feb 2018
Interview with Gary Henwood at Kainui Brew Co.When did you decide to brew beer alongside the wine? Originally our vineyard was planted as a bit of a hobby but my father-in-law ended up planting too…
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28th Nov 2017
SOBA National Homebrew Competition 2017 ReviewBy Greig McGillAnother year of judging a selection of New Zealand homebrewers’ efforts is complete, and it’s a good time to reflect on the competition. It…
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